Sunday, July 29, 2012

One day Canadians will wake up...

One day, Canadians will wake up, and discover that:
-multinationals and foreign governments own all of Canada's water, oil and gas, timber and mineral resources.
- our parks have been transformed into playgrounds for the rich and famous; inaccessible to ordinary people who cannot afford the exorbitant entry fees.
-China and India have bought vast tracts of Canadian land, to grow food and bio-fuel for the citizens of China and India. Currently, the people of Canada own millions of acres of land:In 1999, 46 million acres of land were owned by Parks Canada.
The Fraser Institute wants to see the privatization of federal government services, and the ownership of all of the federal parks in British Columbia transferred to the government of British Columbia. (Google the exact phrase "Introduction when a country".) I think it would be a disaster, if the province owned the Yoho, Pacific Rim and Mount Revelstoke national parks.
The document "Introduction when a country" is a blueprint for the privatization of government services, Crown corporations and Crown land.
In May of 2012, 605 Parks Canada employees were given layoff notices. A day later, it was announced that the hot springs at the Banff, Jasper and Kootenay national parks will be privately operated. An American-based company is currently drilling and blasting the side of a cliff in Jasper National Park, to create the "Glacier Discovery Walk" --- a 400-metre walkway with a huge glass floor. Sheep, mountain goats and many other species of animals are being displaced because of a private, commercial tourist attraction. Thousands of people are opposed to the "Glacier Discovery Walk", the disfigurement of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our parks were created to protect wild animals and nature, not to provide business opportunities for wealthy investors. According to Fraser Institute, the Saanich Pacific Forestry Centre and Canada Place in Vancouver, British Columbia should be privatized.